Labour CLUELESS on Brexit: Now John McDonnell backtracks on Corbyn's single market claim

SENIOR Labour Party MPs are seemingly at odds with each other as the party’s Brexit shambles rumbles on.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Kier Starmer and shadow chancellor John McDonnell were forced to admit to a Labour meeting they were keeping all options on the table, including remaining in the European Union.

The pair’s intervention comes after the shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner declared the party were edging toward a hard Brexit.

Speaking at a Labour in the City event on Wednesday night, Sir Keir said: “Labour’s objective is tariff-free access to the single market, no new red tape at customs and a deal that works for services as well as goods.

“It is vital that we retain the benefits of the single market and customs union. How we achieve that is secondary to the outcome and should be part of the negotiations.

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Jeremy Corbyn and his key allies appear at odds with one an other over Brexit

The structures – whether we are in or out – are secondary matter

John McDonnell

“We need to be flexible in our approach and not sweep options off the table.”

Mr McDonnell made similar remarks during a BBC News interview, he said the party’s “objective is tariff-free access” to the bloc’s market.

The Marx-influenced shadow chancellor also hinted his party could ignore the will of the people and not move forward with Brexit.

Mr McDonnell added: “The structures – whether we are in or out – are a secondary matter.

“We are not rolling anything out but what we are saying is that we are the fifth largest economy in the world and we have a special status in both our relationship with the EU and the rest of the globe and we feel we can get a deal that achieves tariff-free access.”

He claimed that Labour only wanted the "benefits" of the single market and hinted Labour could back continued membership.

Despite Jeremy Corbyn’s threats to take hijack Brexit negotiations, Labour’s position for the European divorce still remains largely unknown.

Mr McDonnell and Sir Keir’s comments put them at odds with their leader, who said a Labour government would take Britain out of the single market, declaring membership of it was “dependent on EU membership”.

Mr Gardiner went further, claiming the UK should also rule out membership of the customs union beyond any transitional period, insisting that failing to do so would make the UK a “vassal state” unable to negotiate sovereign trade deals.

He told the BBC: “You leave the customs union because only members of the European Union are members of the customs union. Other countries like Turkey have a separate customs union agreement, but the troubles with that is it gives you an asymmetrical relationship with the third party countries the EU does deal with.

“So the EU could do a deal with another country like America which we would be bound by in the UK. We would have to accept the liberalisation of our markets, we would have to accept their goods coming into our markets on the terms agreed by Europe which could be prejudicial to us.”